St. Louis among finalists for Olympic swim trials

(KSDK Sports) -- Last month, the St. Louis Sports Commission submitted its proposal to bring the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swim trials to town.

Today, USA Swimming, in collaboration with the United States Olympic Committee, today announced the cities it is considering for the event and St. Louis was included among the top six.

In addition to St. Louis, the cities are Greensboro, N.C., Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla., Omaha, Neb., and San Antonio. The winning community will be the site of the biggest swimming event in the country.

The Trials will select the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swim Team.

St. Louis' plan includes the installation of two temporary, Olympic-sized pools inside the Edward Jones Dome. The competition pool and warm-up pool - will be constructed on the Dome floor. USA Swimming's Aqua Zone fan and sponsor experience will take place in the adjoining America's Center convention complex.

According to the St. Louis Sports Commission, the bid evaluation period will run through the end of April and will include site visits to select finalist locations. An internal evaluation team from USA Swimming, along with an outside member of the USA Swimming board, will visit each location and select finalists from the group. In addition to reviewing the bids and making site visits, this team will ask follow-up questions of each city and evaluate all information and responses before ultimately making a recommendation to USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus, the USA Swimming Board of Directors and the USOC.

"We are thrilled to begin this process and are excited to see what these cities have to offer," said Mike Unger, USA Swimming assistant executive director. "The Olympic Trials is the marquee swimming event in the U.S. and has grown into an amazing sports event. We are truly excited to continue to enhance the event and make it even more spectacular in 2016."

Of the bid cities, only two have previously hosted the event - Indianapolis and Omaha. Indianapolis hosted Trials in 1952 (women only), 1984, 1992, 1996 and 2000, while Omaha played host to the event in 2008 and 2012.

A formal selection announcement is expected to be made following the USA Swimming Board Meeting at the end of April.